One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.117A bird’s eye view from a hilltop at Yushima Tenjin Shrine

Yushima, literally meaning “hot water island”, was situated on a terrace of the same name. It got its name from the fact that, in ancient times, the terrace was an island (“shima”) with hot water (“yu”) springing from the ground.
At the edge of the terrace stood Yushima Tenjin Shrine, which enshrined a famous ninth-century scholar, Michizane Sugawara, who was a specialist in calligraphy and in Chinese and Japanese poetry. After his death, he was deified as a Tenjin god, and many shrines dedicated to him were established in various parts of Japan. The one depicted here, Yushima Tenjin, was established in 1478. Michizane was also venerated as a god of scholarship, and the shrine was visited by countless students who wished to become accomplished scholars or calligraphers.
Without exception, Japanese apricot trees were planted on the grounds of the Tenjin Shrine, and an annual festival was held when the blossoms were in full bloom in the early spring.
Dotting the grounds were restaurants, teahouses, pharmacies, archery facilities and kabuki theatres. A lottery was also held here on the 16th every month and, therefore, the district was considered an amusement centre for Edo people.
Instead of sketching an early spring scene, Hiroshige has chosen to depict a snow scene in winter. On the left of the grounds stands a torii archway to the shrine. The building behind it with red lanterns hanging from its eaves is a teahouse. The grounds have a view of snow-covered Yushima town, and beyond it lies a pond called Shinobazu no Ike, with Benten Shrine Island at its centre. In the distance, on the far side of the pond is Ueno woods, which was filled with many temples. The most important of them is the Tokugawa family’s temple, Kaneiji.